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Common nutritional diseases

June 9, 2009 — Web-nutritionist

Have you ever thought about your diet? The majority of us eat a large variety of things without realizing what they actually are. Proper nutrition should contain contains a sufficient variety of foods. But as far as many people don’t eat properly, there is quite a number of nutritional diseases.

A few of them are caused by eating too much. But most are caused by a lack of something in the diet. One of nutritional diseases of this kind is malnutrition. It is caused by a general lack of food in the diet. Malnutrition is the result of a improper, poor nutrition. Malnutrition may cause serious ill-health and lead to much sickness.

Another is caused by eating too much food. Obesity (overweight) is widespread all over the world. An obese (overweight) person is more likely to suffer from heart disease than someone who is not overweight. Heart disease kills more people than any other disease in the developed countries of Europe and North America. Obesity is common in these countries, and causes more ill-health than all the vitamin deficiency diseases put together.

One more disease is caused by the lack of a substance called vitamin D in the diet. A lack of vitamin D causes the bones to become soft. The legs may bend under the weight of the body. This one is called rickets and belongs to the so called deficiency diseases.

Another deficiency disease is marasmus. Children with marasmus suffer from a general weakness and do not grow properly. They are more likely to suffer badly from the infectious diseases which healthy people can get over quite easily. These include coughs and colds, as well as childhood diseases such as mumps and chickenpox.

One more deficiency disease is caused by a lack of vitamin A in the diet, and can cause blindness.

Nutritional diseases may not actually kill those who have them. However, they do make their sufferers more likely to get other diseases.